Genin Corps
by Lowkey a turd
Summary: "You fail," Kakashi's words felt like a meteorite the size of the sun had just shattered the earth into a trillion dust particles. Except in this case, it was Naruto's galaxy sized ego.
1. Chapter 1

"You fail," Kakashi's words felt like a meteorite the size of the sun had just shattered the earth into a trillion dust particles. Except in this case, it was Naruto's galaxy sized ego.

"B-but you said after lunch we would have another chance!" Sakura tried to argue with the perpetually tardy ninja.

"I know what I said. I lii~ed." Kakashi said as if they were idiots, making sure to drag out the last word of his sentence. His one visible eye crinkled in smile. Naruto felt his fist tighten, nails drawing blood. "I said that to see if you could show team work, if not some form of human decency to your teammates." Sasuke glared hatefully at the man as their sensei continued. "To be completely honest with you guys, I was ordered to pass you because the political importance of this team." All three of the students eyes widened, the same hopeful thought going through their head, did that mean? " But I've never really cared for the council, hahah" Kakashi laughed and left them all in a swirl of leaves.

Sakura wanted to cry, Naruto wanted to yell and blame someone else, Sasuke wanted to rip the man that had failed them's throat out. But instead they all walked away. Not a word spoken as the former team 7 parted ways from the training grounds.

!~^{€~£|?

"You really messed up this time Kakashi," The third hokage said letting lose a long sigh full of smoke. The aforementioned ninja tried not to wince at the third hokage's relaxed, reprimanding tone, it was the same tone interrogators used right before they pulled out the grinder. Kakashi sucked in air as he got ready to defend his decision. Only for the wrinkled old man to put a hand up, silencing his unspoken rebuttal. "Just get ready for the counsel, Sasuke's failure won't sit well with them."

Kakashi nodded and prepared for his meeting with the unofficially named Uchiha lover's club.

*#€?€£~

Naruto spent the night slurping on cup noodles, tears dripping into the already salty broth. He only stopped at his last cup, as he looked around he saw just how many cup noodles he had gone through. Sunlight made its way through the cracks in his cup mountains, signaling a new day. A deep, depressed sigh came from deep in his belly. He couldn't stand this.

Naruto decided to dig his way through the ramen cups and take a walk outside. Not even his usual orange and blue jacket could cheer him up as he slid it onto his skinny arms. It still had mud caking the cuffs from the test, and the moody blonde almost tossed it off the building like it was covered in fire ants at the reminder. Almost. But he just grit his teeth and walked down his stairs to the street, his stomach felt like a rat was running around in it, trying to escape. He felt sick.

Naruto reached the street and steeled himself for the day. A deep breath in, a deep breath out, one more time and then his signature smile. Naruto kept walking forcing his stomach to shut up. He only made it two blocks before he hurled in an alley. "I can't fucking go back to the academy, not now! I barely even passed this time because Mitsuki was a lying asshole!" Naruto's whole body shook, for once he couldn't bring himself to meet the scowls of the villagers with a smile, he couldn't feel happy despite his failings. Because this time he couldn't yell and boast and blame anyone besides himself. He had finally run out of excuses. Naruto kept walking without course, letting his feet guide him through Konoha's bustling morning traffic.

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Naruto has learned an important lesson over the last few years of his life. Being sad and moping around didn't get him anywhere. But begging and complaining to Hokage-Jiji did. It was for this reason that he was currently sitting outside the old man's office, legs bouncing as he worked on his list of 10,000 reasons why Naruto Uzumaki should be kept as a ninja. The door to the Hokage's office opened and Naruto's head snapped up so fast it left him feeling slightly dizzy. But he forced himself not to run full tilt into the room. Instead he walked slowly trying to copy the important looking man that had just walked out.

"Hokage-Ji- errr Sama" he bowed as deeply as he could. "Dammit I already messed up, I'm supposed to show him how respectful a ninja I am!" Naruto mentally berated himself.

"Naruto, my child, what brings you here this morning?" Naruto looked up into his surrogate grandfathers kind gaze and abandoned any form of political correctness. "JIJIIWANNABEANINJASOBADBUTKAKASHISENSEIFALLEDUSBECAUSEWEWEREBIGFATHOESTOEACHOTHERTHATCOUD'NTWORKTOGETHERANDNOWIHAVETOGOBACKTOTHEACADEMYBUTIMGONNABEKICKEDOUTBECAUSEI'MBAAAAADDDDD PLEEEEAAASSSSEEE LET ME STAY A NINJA!" Naruto was laying on the floor, his faces mashed against the floor in a bow, tears were streaming down his face. The Hokage sucked in smoke from his pipe as he contemplated what to do. Breathing out he came up with his plan.

"You can stand up now Naruto". The orange laden boy stood trying to clean his wet face with his sleeve. "If you choose not to return to the academy, which is an option for all genin failed by the Jonin sensei. You are giving up your opportunity to train directly under a jonin in a three man cell. You will be transferred to the genin corps instead." Sarutobi paused and took another puff from his pipe and saw Naruto thinking over the information. "Good he's think about this seriously" the third knew that Naruto was not stupid, but he also knew that the prankster tended not to think things through completely.

"Can I still become hokage if I choose genin corps Jiji?" Naruto asked. Hiruzen let smoke leave his mouth as it drifted up towards the ceiling lazily. "Yes, there are morning classes every other day that cover basic knowledge for the requirements of promotion as well as other important shinobi skills that must be learned. I must warn you that promotion from the corps is difficult." The third hokage thought he could almost see the gears in Naruto's mind turning as he looked into his wide blue eyes. The moment those sky blue eyes hardened in resolve Sarutobi knew the child's answer.

"ALRIGHT OLD MAN I'M GONNA BE THE BEST NINJA EVER, DATTEBAYO!" he started to leave but turned around and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like a thank you to Hiruzen.

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Naruto woke up the next morning vibrating with excitement. Practically shooting out of the house towards genin headquarters.

Naruto slowed down when the building came into view. It was easily forgettable with two stories and plain grey walls. Naruto had walked past it on his way to the academy almost every day and only realized it was there when he was looking for it. Outside was a Chunin with drooping eyelids and greased back hair sitting behind a plain white table. Several other new genin were lined up with their paperwork clutched in their hands. When it was Naruto's turn, he handed his paperwork to the chunin and waited for him to wordlessly stamp it and drop it in the growing stack.

Naruto was waved into the open double doors and he half walked, half ran into the building with an absolutely shining grin. "Man I wonder what my first missions gonna be like, maybe escorting a princess? Or tracking down some super criminal? Hehheh being a ninja is gonna be so cool."

Naruto strutted over to the table with a "team assignments" sign hanging over the front. The rest of the floor seemed to be a break area with cafeteria tables and genin of various shapes and sizes milling around.

"Hello! Naruto Uzumaki here to get assigned a team dattebayo!" The blonde half yelled to the two genin in charge.

"Ah, well if it isn't Naruto Uzumaki. I had a feeling you would end up here." The genin on the right insulted, not that Naruto realized it or cared.

"Heheh well if I'm gonna be hokage I have to start somewhere" the blonde said as he scratched the back of his head. Stupid grin splattered onto his face.

The old genin that looked to be around fifty on the left smiled warmly. "Well I'm the genin commander Kane, it's good to meet you Naruto. I'll have to warn you that only about 1 in 10 of the genin corps even makes chunin, much less become hokage." Naruto laughed good naturally, it was nice that the old man didn't just blow him off. The genin on the right just snorted like a jackass.

"Well I guess I'll be the first then haha. Could I get my team? I'm excited for my first mission!"

The old man nodded, though laughing inside at what the kid must be imagining as his first mission.

"Give me just a second," As the old man Kane ruffled through his some papers he explained some rules that Naruto was expected to follow. "As a new member of the genin corps you are expected to complete 45 D-ranks every month. It doesn't particularly matter when they're done but you will be in trouble if you don't do them," He handed his papers to Naruto but kept a tight grip so the blonde couldn't take them. "And remember Naruto," his eyes turned cold. "any property damage caused by one of our shinobi will be payed for by him, and disciplinary action will be taken." Naruto swallowed and nodded, the genin commander was someone he decided he should stay on the good side of. It seemed he would have to tone down the pranks a bit as well. The commander let go of the papers and Naruto almost stumbled onto his butt. "Your teammates for today are Takeshita Wanari, and Hina Matsuri, their usual teammate is sick today. Look for them outside."

For some reason when Naruto had heard the names of his teammates, he hadn't been expecting two, very fat, middle aged men. One was wearing a white tank top with several stains on the front and black shinobi pants, a cigarette was hanging between his fingers. The other had several pimples and deep bags under his eyes. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. When Naruto walked up to him the pimply one glowered at him.

"Waddaya want shrimp" Naruto wrinkled his nose and tried not to recoil from the mans terrible morning breath.

"I'm your teammate old man! And I'm not a shrimp dattebayo!" Naruto proclaimed

"Well your short and orange, so you're a shrimp."

"Just our luck to get stuck with such a loud and annoying one isn't it Hina." The smoker commented, ignoring Naruto's offended gasp

"Sure is, well let's just get our mission for today over with, follow me shrimpy" Hina sighed and started on the way towards the missions office. Naruto bristled but followed them. They didn't seem like very good ninja but maybe they would surprise him when they fought some bandits. Naruto nodded to himself and jogged to catch up with them.

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"We have a couple good ones this morning, you can paint old man Saitō's fence, fetch Mrs. Watanabe's groceries or weed a few different peoples gardens?" The chunin stated blandly.

"WHAT! All those missions suck! Give us something more difficult you sack of crap!" Naruto practically screamed in indignation.

"Did you not realize what your fist missions would entail Uzumaki? Normally people in the genin corps have to serve for a year before they can take C-ranks, with the commanders approval." Naruto wanted to pull all the hair off of his head as the chunin's stupidly condescending voice reached his ears. A whole year? Naruto didn't have time for that crap. He needed to do some awesome missions to get the respect of the village and become hokage.

"A YEAR!? Who the hell made that rule!?" Naruto was really screaming now.

"The hokage," he handed a mission scroll to Hina. "Now if you could stop screaming like an infant and carry yourself like a proper shinobi, please leave the building."

Naruto did not leave the building like a dignified shinobi. The smoker, Takeshita, dragged him out of the building as Naruto tried to wring himself free and kill the chunin at the missions desk.

~€}€%!}£•\

"This sucks" Naruto poured as he pulled another weed.

"Hahah, sorry Naruto but if you wanted to be ninja that gets to do exciting things all the time then you you should have gone back to the academy" Takeshita consoled. He may have thought Naruto was a little bit of a brat but he didn't have anything against the kid.

"Why did you become a ninja Takeshita-San? You couldn't have wanted to do chores for life."

Naruto asked the brown haired smoker.

"I wanted to be hokage" he said simply

"Really! Why didn't you?" Takeshita sweat dropped at the straight forward question.

"It's not really as simple as wether I did or didn't kid. I joined genin corps thinking I could work my way up from there. But instead I never had another chance to get stronger or prove my skills. Now look at me, a fat man who does other people's house work for a living. If I had another chance I would have just become a merchant. At least I'de be making enough money to support my family." Naruto frowned, he had never really thought about what his life would be like if he didn't make hokage. Looking at Takeshita-San and imagining him as someone his age, proclaiming to the world that Takeshita Wanari would be the next hokage, it made the position of hokage seem farther than the stars in the sky.

Takeshita pulled the last weed in the now beautiful garden and stood up. Hina had finished his section five minutes ago and left for a drink. Takeshita brushed off his pants and clapped Naruto on the shoulder. "I may be an old man no stronger than most civilians, but if your in a pinch you can count on me. See you around shrimpy, and you've got my vote for hokage." With those parting words Naruto was left alone in the garden, tears started to form in his eyes as he saw the old man leave. Takeshita didn't even realize just how much those words of support meant to the usual ball of sunshine.

 **A/N hello people, this my first fic I've ever actually written, so any feedback is appreciated let me know if you liked it, if you love it, or even if you think this is absolute garbage.**


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto spent the next month mostly doing solo missions. And they were slowly killing him like a parasite. The only exercise he had been getting recently is when he did 3 Laps around Konoha after his daily missions. After the laps he would usually go to bed around four pm and wake up at ten am. This morning though was especially bad. Naruto's eyes slid over to his alarm clock, which signified that it was noon. The blonde rolled out of bed and onto the floor. Letting a deep sigh out from his throat Naruto climbed off the hardwood and left the apartment to do his last mission to meet quota. He didn't even realize he was still in his pajamas until he was half way to the Hokage's tower.

"Hey fart give me your easiest mission today please." Naruto ask the chunin at the desk politely.

"Naruto if you call me a fart then saying please doesn't make it polite" the chunin at the desk scolded lightly. He had been the same one that had assigned the prankster his first mission as well. After that they had formed a relationship that consisted of the young dark haired chunin teaching manners, while Naruto followed them but found a way to break them in the same sentence.

"Whatever dude, I'm tired, I just wanna go home and eat ramen all day." Naruto sighed, putting as much effort into making himself look as pitiful as possible.

"Fine, bring this up to the Hokage, it's for his eyes only."

"Kay, thanks Kaito." Naruto snatched the scroll and made his way through the crowd, toad sleeping cap bobbing up and down.

"At least he said thanks." Kaito muttered

~€%^~

"Letter for Hokage-sama!" Naruto announced as he walked into Hiruzen's office, pajama clad. Sarutobi looked up from paper work to his adopted grandson only to his great confusion when he saw Naruto in light blue pajamas, and his toad night cap on, his hitai-ate was tight loosely around his neck.

"Naruto! Good to see you, hand that to me will you," the Hokage took the scroll and set it on his desk. "Naruto wait a second," Naruto was already halfway to the door but he stopped and turned around. "I see you have been working hard this last month Naruto."

The blonde in question rubbed the back of his head and let out an awkward laugh. "Well you know the genin corps ojisan, they've been working me hard, hahah" Naruto was starting to regret his choice of clothing today. That bastard Kaito probably planned this.

Hiruzen smiled but Naruto could see the danger behind those old eyes. "As I'm sure you have been taught Naruto, a village is only as good as it's shinobi. I wouldn't want our mission intake to be slowed because some of the shinobi have an _unprofessional_ appearance _."_ Naruto knew it, time for another lecture.

"L-listen ojisan I'm really sor-"

"It's fine Naruto" the old man said with a raised hand. "I know that the genin corps is boring and knowing you, you must be dying for something to do," Naruto grinned at the Hokage's understanding. "How about this Naruto, if you are serious about becoming a strong ninja then you need to train like it," the Hokage got out of his chair and walked over to his library of scrolls and books picking out a plain covered book. "Here are some chakra control techniques for you to practice."

" _Ah man, I thought I was gonna get a sick jutsu."_ Naruto mentally complained, but he held his tongue, Kaito's little reminders taking hold.

The Hokage wasn't finished yet though. "If you complete all these techniques then I will teach you a powerful jutsu, how does that sound Naruto?"

Naruto all most hit the ceiling when he jumped up. "Hell yeah ojisan! I knew there was a reason you're my favorite!" Naruto snatched the book out of his hand and started dancing towards the door.

"Naruto!" Called the Hokage after him. The bucket of happiness stopped and swung around hoping for more good news. "Do this old man a favor and get some new clothes too will you." Naruto sheepishly rubbed his head and pulled on his pajamas unconsciously.

"Will do! haha! See you when I get this done Hokage-jiji!"

!~*}%}+¥~

Naruto decidedly hated chakra control exercises, but it had been a long time since he had felt this motivated. The first exercise in the book had, of course, been the leaf exercise. Naruto still couldn't do it, and he had been working on it for a month. A MONTH! And he still couldn't get a stupid leaf to stick! Fortunately the tree walking had come slightly easier, but only slightly, it had still taken him two weeks to complete it.

Naruto's kage bunshin meanwhile had been working overtime, doing all of his missions for him, and cooking (well making cup ramen but it's the same thing) all his meals for him while he trained.

Naruto had also gotten some new clothes. After wearing his pajamas to missions for such a long time he couldn't go back to his itchy jumpsuit, as much as he loathe to admit it. So after the Hokage had told him to get some new clothes, he went to one of the nearby shinobi stores and looked for the most comfortable orange clothing he could find. With the help of a fellow genin girl who looked like a panda, he had found his current thick orange hoodie. It was plain orange (something he was very happy about) with his Uzumaki crest sewn onto the arm. Panda girl hadn't let him have orange pants, or shorts, so he had settled for some plain black shorts that stopped just at the knee. Never in his life had he been more comfortable. he tended to put his forehead protecter around his neck these days in order to maximize comfort levels. This became a problem when he kept falling asleep during his leaf exercise however.

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Naruto woke up to the sound three different footsteps. One pair was heavy but still somehow the quietest, the other was a lazy drag, and the third was almost a stomp. All three footsteps stopped about five feet from him. The current bundle of orange considered just pretending to be asleep, but last time he had done that Kaito had kicked him in the face.

Deciding to crack one eye open, it took him a second to recognize the familiar faces of his former classmates, Chouji, Shikamaru, and Ino.

"What are you doing here Naruto?" Chouji was the first to speak.

Naruto let out a long yawn "chillin, what about you?"

"We're supposed to meet our sensei here today." Ino decided to answer for the group, although her eyes lingered on the basic chakra control book beside Naruto.

Naruto felt a pang if jealousy at the mention of their sensei. Another painful reminder of his failure.

"I see you got rid of your gross jumpsuit." Ino commented when Naruto didn't respond.

"Hey! I liked that jumpsuit." The blonde defended half heartedly.

Team 10 rolled their eyes. "You wanna train with us a little?" Chouji asked, but Naruto could tell he was just trying to be nice.

"I can stretch with you but I gotta do my missions." It was a half truth, because clones were already doing them, but he didn't particularly want to just say no, Chouji was a good guy after all.

As they all sat in a circle stretching, Ino finally asked the question he had been dreading. "So how's it been with your team, I bet Sasuke is super strong now." Apparently Sakura and Ino weren't on speaking terms still, he observed with his shining blue eyes.

"Well, hahah, we uhh, actually failed our sensei's test" Naruto replied awkwardly. Hoping they wouldn't laugh at him.

"…"

"That sucks dude" Shikamaru finally said, breaking the awkward silence.

"You wanna chip?" Chouji offered

"What about Sasuke!" Ino almost cried

Naruto let a sigh escape his lips and took up Chouji's offer of a chip.

"It's not too bad," Naruto said to try and make them stop pitying him. "I mean I get to chose my own missions, train whenever I feel like it, and meet a lot of neat people"

"But aren't you not allowed C-ranks for a year?" Shikamaru questioned skeptically.

Naruto almost physically winced "Well-"

"I heard you can't get promoted" said Ino.

Naruto did wince that time.

"And you get paid less." Finished Chouji

"Yeah, but. Wait, did you just say I get paid less!" Naruto almost yelled at them. He had been living like a monk the last month because his apartment wasn't getting paid for by Konoha anymore!

"I thought you knew, it's like a 10% difference or something. In the genin corps you get paid by how long you've been working, but for us it's just a fixed amount." Chouji said

"I hate you," Naruto stated but didn't really mean it. "But yeah, you guys are right. Genin corps totally blows."

"You sure you don't want to train with us a little today Naruto? It could help you out at getting stronger. Asuma-sensei could help you with your chakra control." Ino offered nicely. She could practically feel Naruto's depression about the genin corps

"Team 10, you guys are too nice!" Naruto cried and pulled them all into a big hug.

"You can let go" Shikamaru drawled, not that Naruto heard him.

"Sorry if I'm interrupting something." a new, amused voice said right behind Naruto, making him jump three feet in the air.

"Hey Asuma-Sensei, you wanna play some shogi?" Shikamaru said sleepily.

"Your not even going to introduce me to your friend?" Asuma asked lightly.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Nice to meet you Asuma-San!" Naruto introduced himself, he liked to think he was getting better at being polite.

"Naruto was hoping he could get some advice on chakra control" Ino piped in

"Well all I can say is keep going through repetition, sorry kid but there's something important I need to talk to my team about." Asuma politely dismissed him. Naruto politely bowed his head before tucking his book in his hoody's kangaroo pouch and heading down the path towards the lake for some water walking .

Asuma watched him go and shook his head "wish my students could be nice to me like that." before he looked back at his team and pulled out their Chunin exam forms.

 **A/N Next chapter is Naruto looking in on the chunin exams as an outsider. Tell me what you think so far. like it? Hate it? Let me know!**


	3. Chapter 3

Naruto panted heavily on the lakes shore, sopping wet and stripped down to light blue boxers. His legs were nearly shaking from exertion. The soaked blonde grit his teeth and clenched his fist. He was so close to mastering the water walking technique, he couldn't stop and take a break now! The sun had started to sink below the tree line, bathing the lake in orange. Naruto would have appreciated this more, if not for his raging contempt for the lake.

Breathing in deeply, Naruto closed his eyes and let his chakra sink down towards his feet. His tenketsu points burned in protest, but Naruto ignored it and stepped forward onto the water. Making small adjustments the young genin took another step, then another, and another. Naruto grinned and opened his eyes.

"Haha! take that you stupid water! Naruto reigns supr- oohhaAaak!" Naruto face planted into the water as his control slipped. The blonde bobbed back up to the surface sputtering for air several seconds later. His arms thrashing in the water as he swam a short distance to shore. The defeated blonde picked himself up out of the lake and stretched out on the grassy ground. The sun was now hidden behind the trees, casting its last rays through the thick canopy. Naruto grabbed his clothes and decided to go back before it became too dark to make out the path home. He would count today as a success.

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Naruto walked out of the shower and grabbed a towel to dry off. Leaving it on his head he studied himself in the mirror. His straw blonde hair had grown since his time in the academy, and was now just long enough to brush his sea blue eyes. The genin frowned at his skinny tanned arms. He wished he had some more muscle. When he wasn't wearing big clothes like his hoodie or jumpsuit he tended to look even more like a shrimp.

His training was getting stronger in other areas though. Shadow clones were easier to make than ever, he had tree climbing down pat, and water walking was all but mastered. The blonde flexed and kissed his bicep before grinning.

"See this you big pussy Sasuke-Teme! Imma beat your ass once I get Ojisan's jutsu! heheh!" Naruto laughed and jabbed at the air. He walked out of the bathroom with a smile. That night he had dreams of thoroughly humiliating Sasuke and being fed ramen by Sakura as she realized how awesome he was.

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"Mmmm, Sakura I've already eaten soooo much ramennn~… ahh… that's some gooood ramen, oh hey old man… heheh it's good to be Hokage."

*BEEEEEEP…BEEEEEEP…BEEEEEEP* "uhg goddammit!" Naruto slapped the top of his alarm clock and rolled out of bed in a tangle of covers and sheets. Rubbing his bleary eyes as he lethargically drug himself to the kitchen and pulled a carton of milk out of his fridge. The twelve year old made sure to give it a good sniff before taking several large gulps out of the blue container. He did not want a repeat of his last day of the academy.

After dressing appropriately Naruto opened up his door feeling much more awake. Only to slam right into something. The orange smurf looked up to see Iruka's scarred face looking down with warm brown eyes.

"Long time no see Naruto!" Iruka smiled.

"Hey sensei, what's up?" Naruto asked as he rubbed his bumped nose.

"It's been a while since I last saw my most troublesome student. So I thought I'd come by."  
The dark haired teacher explained.

The blonde thought about it and realized it really had been a while. Almost a month since he had last seen his old teacher.

"Hehe sorry about that Iruka sensei," Naruto said as he rubbed the back of his head. "I've been busy because of all my ninja duties and stuff datebayo. You wanna come in sensei?"

Iruka nodded his head friendly and stepped into the apartment. He was pleasantly surprised to see it actually decently clean. He had expected orange paint spilling onto the floor and pallets of ramen in the living room. But instead there was only one or two empty cups in the sink and a few dirty clothes on the wood floor.

"So… what you wanna talk about?" Naruto asked, breaking Iruka out of his silent inspection of his home.

The young teacher about what to say for a second. To be completely honest he had just kind of missed the rowdy blonde.

"I just thought I would ask how being an official ninja's been. I know that the first few months can be draining." The scarred man said, aware of exactly what kind of missions new genin got to do.

"Ah thanks Sensei! I've been doing great!" Naruto exclaimed as he did air punches for no apparent reason. "The old man said if I do some boring chakra exercises he'll teach me a super awesome jutsu datebayo!" Naruto boasted to his former teacher.

"Well if you need any help…" Iruka offered

"Really, That'd be great! I need some help with my leaf exercise. I only can stick it on for a second or two before it shoots off, sometimes it explodes!

'What!? Explodes!? Why would Naruto think that's a normal thing!' Iruka sweat dropped, but tried not to let his surprise show to his student.

"Ahh, Naruto, I don't think is normal for your leaf to explode from a simple exercise like that."

Naruto frowned a little at his sensei's words, it was pretty easy to make it explode, he just put in a little more than the minimum he was able to pour out. "But Iruka it's not hard to do that for me." Naruto tried to explain to his teacher.

"I believe you Naruto, how about we do a little experiment, yeah?" Iruka asked as he headed out the door. The orange shrimp followed behind him and nodded his head.

'€~!}^#£\

The leaf on Naruto's head glowed blue for a second before exploding into shreds.

"Told you, datebayo!" Naruto said as he jumped to his feet. Iruka just blinked

"Ok. It seems that you are putting so much chakra into the leaf that it explodes to release the built up pressure." Iruka said as he he squatted down and rubbed his chin.

Naruto nodded "It doesn't normally do it anymore, but it does when I'm getting mad or frustrated"

"I guess that means that your chakra control has improved a lot!" Iruka exclaimed proudly. "Maybe you'll be able to do a regular clone soon." Iruka joked, patting his old student on the shoulder.

Naruto beamed at his dark haired teacher and nodded his head. "Soon I can get my mega awesome super jutsu, dattebayo!" He exclaimed and pumped his fist. Iruka laughed at his students antics.

"I'm sorry Naruto but I have to go and help at the missions desk, I have my shift today." Iruka was a little sad to part ways with his student, but it had been fun to hang out with him today. The scar faced young man thought of Naruto as a little brother. He could be annoying as hell sometimes, but the sensei still loved him anyways.

"Sensei, thank you, Seriously. I haven't had a lot of help with training or anything the last two months. Soon I'll get my super jutsu thanks to you, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed.

Iruka smiled at his student. All he had really done was tell him that he was using to much chakra. Either way he was glad to help his student.

"I've better be going Naruto. Find me if you need anymore help." The teacher told his student. Sauntering away with his hands in his pocket.

!% $

Our hero Naruto spent the rest of the day using as little chakra as was possible to trickle into the leaf on his forehead while doing basic exercises. The blond devil had found that physical activity helped him both focus and cool of when he was in need of it. His talk with sensei hadn't really told him anything he didn't already know, but seeing the man who was almost like an older brother to him for the first time in a while had reinvigorated his fighting spirit that had been worn down over the last couple months. As he punched the wooden pole sticking into the ground he felt a familiar sensation in his stomach and chest warming him against the cold night, the feeling that all his efforts were finally going somewhere. It was a feeling that he had been missing since his improvement at the academy had stagnated, his classmates going ahead of him while he stayed behind, laughing it off like he didn't mind either way.

His fist whamed into the log with a resounding crunch within the hardwood. Naruto hated thinking about his academy days. Everybody always told him "try harder!", "stop goofing around and maybe you could do this!", "focus!". It wasn't his drive that was the problem, he wanted to do those things, but he was restless and needed outlets for his energy. When he wanted to sit down to read, the words would swim and jumble within the page. The academy had been a waste of time. He had learned more from diagrams in a stolen scroll than anything his teachers had tried to beat into his head while ignoring the underlying problems that caused his inattention and lashing out. Naruto felt heat rising up to his face remembering his old classmates laughing at his failing attempts to read aloud. Or teachers yelling at him for losing focus during a lesson. His hands were dripping crimson onto dark earth, and the leaf on his forehead had long shot off into the crisp night air.

"ARGH!" Naruto punched the practice pole one final time before crouching down and nursing his hurt hand. He only took a few seconds before taking off in a sprint around the training field to cool off.

The orange loving fiend finished late as usual, and made his way at a jog for his small apartment. When he arrived he found a plastic bag hanging on his doorknob, heavenly smells wafting out around it. He quickly grabbed it and brought it inside.

 _It may not be ramen but i figured you could use the protein._

 _-Iruka_

The note was waiting on top of wrapped barbeque, and Naruto quickly disregarded it for the delicious meal.

"I LOVE YOU IRUKA SENSEIIIIII!" he yelled as he started to dig in.

"WOULD YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GO TO SLEEP!"

Naruto blushed and slowed down his ravenous eating pace at the neighbors reproach to his proclamation.

 ****

**Ayyyeeee! wassup my loyal fourteen followers, it's been a while. I started this story last summer as something to entertain myself while dying of heat stroke in the back of the car, and hadn't planned on picking it up again, but I reread the first two chapters today just thought, "fuck I am a GOOD FUCKING WRITER!" so decided I might as well continue it. I know I promised chunin exams but I decided to do a little more character development and fluff instead lol. This story is 100% rated only for my filthy mouth and inability to censor bad words btw. If you notice that the writing style might change its because I had half this chapter written for more than half a year now. As always comment what u think. (special thanks to Iepidus for the massive feedback, part of the reason I decided not to rush into the chunin exams yet)**


	4. Chapter 4

The hokage was starting to think that not even the dangling treat of a new jutsu could get Naruto to continue his training despite his failings at Kakashi's bell test. It had been a month now since he had offered Naruto the deal and the hokage hadn't seen hide nor hair of him since. His shadow clones were still taking care of his many missions for him, and the hokage wanted to get onto the son of his beloved successor, but was unable too, as he himself had started doing the same thing upon seeing its effectiveness. The hokage frowned upon his thoughts and flipped the page of his small orange book, wiping away a dribble of blood leaking from his nose as he did so.

"OI OLD MAN!" Hiruzen jumped into the air and threw his book under the desk as the door banged open. "I mastered your dumb scroll, teach me a jutsu dattebayo!" blond had his bangs pulled up under his orange hood and hitai-ate tied around his neck, metal just visible under his chin.

The wizened old man smiled warmly at the boy. "Ah Naruto, how nice of you to drop by, I was starting to think you had given up."

"Pff, I never give up dattebayo. It was super easy." Naruto said with his hands on his head.

Hiruzen smiled "I see, then why do I wonder, did it take this young shinobi an entire month to complete?"

Naruto straightened his back immediately. "you see, I was… uhhhhhh- I, uh- had tooooo.."

The old hokage laughed gently. "it's fine Naruto, did you want to learn the jutsu I promised you?"

"Dattebayo!" the demon host fist pumped in the air.

Puffing out some smoke the hokage stooped down under his desk and pulled out a box full of some old scrolls. Naruto wrinkled his nose at the implication that he would have to read through all of that. "These scrolls contain several D-ranked techniques that you can choose from"

"D-RANK?! THAT'S ACADEMY LEVEL!" Naruto was about to continue his rant when a bony hand was raised by his surrogate grandfather.

"Tell me naruto, have you mastered those academy jutsu's that your badmouthing yet?" Naruto immediately shut up and locked his gaze level with that of the 3rd hokage.

"Fine." he muttered after a couple seconds, lowering his sky blue eyes. The loud ninja ruffled through the box unenthusiastically before his eyes lit up like light bulbs and he held up a worn scroll in his bandaged hands. "Demonic illusion: hell viewing technique! Sounds badass! This is perfect Oji-san!"

The third hokage frowned a little bit as he recognized the jutsu.

"Naruto i'm not so sure abou…" he started before realizing the village troublemaker had already sprinted out the door. "Haaah that boy just had to pick the only genjutsu in that crate, hopefully it doesn't frustrate him too much." the hokage spoke to himself as he picked up a little orange book off the floor.

^$%

When Naruto sat in his training spot he immediately regretted his choice of technique upon seeing how much WRITING there was in the paper, not even one drawing in the small scroll. It just shouldn't be legal. He spent a couple minutes reading the introductory paragraph. Basically it was a technique that made people see their worst fear, which sounded way more badass than a weak-ass clone that couldn't do anything.

Naruto let out a puff of air and laid back on the dry grass to rest his working brain.

The hokage's jab at Naruto's inability to complete all but a transformation jutsu had actually hurt Naruto's feelings more than he let on. Naruto had learned early on in his life that he did not possess any prodigy attributes or clan abilities. All he had was hard work, something he admittedly hadn't done much of in the academy, but he was learning it now. Naruto sighed, Maybe if he had figured it out sooner he would have a team here training with him, a sensei that could guide him.

Naruto allowed himself a few moments of wallowing before deciding he had done enough of that lately.

"OSU! Screw the past! I'm gonna be the goddamn hokage! Who the fuck cares if I messed up back then because I'm gonna learn all that shit RIGHT NOW DATTEBAYO!" Naruto decided with a shout. 'Okay start with kawarimi, that Kakashi bastard at least taught me how useful it is.' The brash shinobi formed the necessary hand signs and felt a thread of chakra extend itself to a nearby fallen limb, he mentally tugged at it as hard as possible and felt himself switching places. Only it wasn't the kind of crisp substitution he had intended, instead he slingshotted past the branch and was flung into a nearby tree.

Naruto rubbed his bum with a wince, this might take a little longer than he had thought.

{} #$%

As the sun slowly set over the village, a blonde boy laid drenched in sweat in the middle of the training ground. It seemed that all the chakra exercises he spent so long on had a point in the end after all. The shinobi sat up from his place with a small smile on his face, blue eyes sparkling in the dim light. When the sun had completely fallen below the horizon Naruto finally stood up. Patting grass off of his butt he set off for some Ichiraku's to reward himself. His self satisfied smile soon disappeared though as his shadow clones memories of today's events rammed into his head. His jaw clenched and his nails dug deep into his palms.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now."

!#$:&()(10 minutes ago -Naruto's clone)

"Ahhh goddamit I'm tired, Naruto you mind finishing this gardening up for me?" Takeshita asked as he stretched out his sore muscles.

Naruto was about to answer when he saw a familiar face that never ceased to make his blood boil. It had been two months now but it seemed Sasuke had already gained back his overconfidence and fangirls. However, instead of jumping out to do something to him Naruto just stood in confusion, wrapped around Sasuke's annoyingly beautiful forehead was a hitai-ate. Sasuke Uchiha caught his gaze and smirked at the deadlast before continuing down the road with long purple haired girl and a plain looking boy with brown hair, brown eyes, and freckles dusting his cheeks. They followed behind a tall black haired man that looked like he hadn't slept or shaved in a week, but his jounin vest, though crumpled, was distinctive.

Takeshita and Hina followed Naruto's gaze to the Uchiha heir.

"Ah that Sasuke, they say he's a favorite to win the Chunin Exams this year. That team of his has already completed an A-rank mission!" Hina inputted

"How the hell does he get a jounin sensei?" Naruto asked quietly, but his teeth were grinding together in anger.

"Why wouldn't he?" asked Takeshita

"Because" Naruto started, "he failed his goddamn genin test same as me." The blond's usual kind blue eyes were hardened in anger. He pulled his soft yellow hair down to hide his frustration as he spoke. "I gotta report this to the boss, I'll see you guys." In a puff of smoke he left the two very confused middle aged men behind to complete their mission.

#$%(3 days later)

*knock knock* "uhghghg" *knock knock* "I coming!"

Iruka had come to visit Naruto before his teaching shift to make sure the boy got up on time. That, and the chunin exams started today and the betting pools were getting out of hand. The young teacher wanted to make sure that his little student wasn't depressed about his peers being in such spotlight.

When the door opened Iruka recoiled at the sight of his student. His cheeks were sunken in and deep bags were forming underneath his eyes. All he wore was his bright hoodie and pink boxers.

"Oh it's you." he stated before going back inside.

The door was left open and Iruka cautiously entered the apartment. Seeing Naruto's state he had expected the worst for the inside of the apartment. But instead of littered with garbage it was completely clean other than an open scroll and half eaten cup ramen on the table.

Naruto walked over to the table and sat in front of the scroll, taking a large slurp of ramen and beckoning Iruka over.

"I can't do this genjutsu sensei. I thought I could prove that I'm not falling behind Sasuke, but I can't even do a single jutsu! He's probably learned loads from his jounin sensei and I've only just been able to learn academy jutsus." the usually cheerful blond tugged on his bangs as he sat cross legged on his chair.

"What jutsu are you trying to learn?" Iruka asked

"The demonic illusion, Hell viewing technique." Naruto replied miserably.

"Why don't you show me what you've learned so far." Iruka used his best 'encouraging teacher voice' voice to push Naruto out of his glum.

"Mkay," Naruto mumbled before forming his hand signs, Iruka felt a definite change as the genjutsu fell in place, but it soon broke apart like a delicate stack of cards.

Iruka looked at his students sweating face, he could tell exactly what the problem was. He just didn't want to tell his student that even though he had been working so hard, his chakra control still wasn't good enough.

"Listen Naruto, I'm not sure how to tell you this, but genjutsu probably is never going to work out for you. It requires a sharp mind and very good chakra control, and I don't think it would really fit your straight forward style."

As soon as the words left the young teachers mouth, he instantly regretted it. Naruto looked like a kicked puppy with his drooping blue eyes and downturned mouth. Though Iruka was still surprised by an explosion of anger that came following seconds later.

"WELL SCREW YOU!" The young ninja screamed. Before jumping out of the window and away.

Naruto knew he wasn't being reasonable. He knew Iruka was doing his best and trying to help. He _knew_ that, but he was sleep deprived, angry, and frustrated with his limitations. So instead of turning back he kept running through the deserted alleys until breaking out into the main road.

"Oh shi-"CRASH

"EEEEEK!"

Naruto couldn't tell who he had run into but was extremely worried he had injured a civilian girl.

"I am so sorry ma'am please let me- Kiba!?" upon realizing who it was he had crashed into the blond was shaking with poorly contained laughter.

The inuzuka clan member however, only glared. "I swear to god I'm going to kill you Naruto."

"HAHAHA I'm so sorry! Do you need some help up ma'am?" Naruto mocked.

Kiba had a sharp reply on the tip of his tongue before he got a whiff of the smell of frustration and tears. It was something that he could smell on Naruto every once in a while, but he never commented on it.

"Fuck you too little shrimp." The dog boy grumbled as he got up.

Naruto squawked indignantly but wasn't as quick with his dog breath reply as he usually was.

Kiba just sighed and stood up, "so what has your panties in a twist this early in the morning?" he asked, akimaru yipped as confirmation he wanted to know.

"Ahhaha whatcha mean?" Naruto replied as he nervously rubbed the back of his head.

"Alright if you don't wanna say I don't really care that much." Kiba said in a faked bored voice as he dusted his pants off.

"Fine fine, I'm just frustrated I can't learn this jutsu after working so hard the last month, I feel like my efforts are just wasted. If I spend so long working on my chakra control and then can't master this, why did I even do all that?"

"Hah, that's what you're so depressed about?" said Kiba angrily, "this is why I hate you Naruto, you waste all of your time playin pranks or being all glum. Then suddenly you work hard for a month and think that you should be the next sage of six paths by now! All of us work our asses off to be at the level we are now, wether you see us training or not. You learned shadow clones in thirty fucking minutes, now yer whining about not learning one jutsu. I've spent years training, the princess Sasuke, as much as I hate him, has spent his whole life training on full throttle without time for fun or breaks. Get yer head out of yer ass and realize that of course yer gonna be shit at everything if you don't work at it for a while!" Kiba yelled, taking a long inhale to regain his breath.

When he looked at Naruto he met wide, surprised blue eyes, before naruto's mouth closed and his lips upturned.

"Thanks Kiba!" Naruto yelled before running back to his apartment as fast as he could.

Kiba was left confused in the middle of the road as he watched the blonde head bob back the way it had come from.

! # %#%$$^*#&^%$

 **A/N**

 **Sup bruvs, it took me a long while to finish this chapter because I just couldn't figure out what I wanted Kiba to say to Naruto. I was kinda stuck on how I wanted Naruto to get to where I have planned for him, and this is a bit of a transition into where shit actually starts to happen. I settled on this, so hopefully you all enjoyed.**

 **Also, I fucking love all of you that comment and follow and fav (especially Iepidus, holy shit dude you are a literal god of fanfiction), ya'll are the reason I'm still writing this shit. So if you want me to continue you better give me lots of love! (or hate, I'll continue just to piss you off) XOXOXOXOXOXOXXOXOXXO**

 **Sorry about any grammar or spelolloing errors, I don't really check for it lol.**

 **Poop dealer signing off**


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